So, I decided to take some advice here and go to the Richmond board.  Here is a summary:
They want their coach fired because they should have beaten us because we stink and we haven’t beaten them in so many years.  I hope the rest of the league keeps giving us No Respect!  Great Game Dukes.  Keep it Up.

Last edited by FAM (1/17/2019 10:05 am)

My favorite team has always been the Cleveland Indians. I followed them avidly for almost 40 years and they were never even remotely competitive in all those years...not once.  3rd place was the best they did for almost 40 years.  Then 1994 came around and they were starting to get really good.  One night I was watching TV and not paying really close attention while Drew Carey (a loyal Cleveland boy) was doing a commercial.  It may have been for his new show...I don't remember.  What I will always remember was the end of that commercial....I was surprised it was allowed on the air.  He was wearing his Cleveland Indians gear and looking directly into the TV and said "finally it is your team that sucks".  I laughed for about 15 minutes.  That commercial and that 2-3 second clip will always mark the turning point in the history of the Indians for me.  I am a newbie being a Duke fan.  But the reaction of the announcers, Richmond fans  and this thread will always be the thing I will remember when thinking about the Duke's turnaround.  Classic.  Go Dukes.   

I looked online for that Drew Carey clip but could not find it....seems you can find anything on the net these days but not that. Today was the first day I though about it and realized it may be on the net....I guess it before the internet explosion.  I doubt anyone here would have seen it, probably was not shown outside of NE Ohio....but it was classic.

Last edited by Dsnyder15 (1/17/2019 10:28 am)

yak-rbc wrote:

We Wear the Ring had one of the best stats I've never seen before in their short write-up. UR is 20th in the country in assists to FGM, and Duquesne is 311th in assist to FGM allowed.

I really onder how Dambrot has game planned for this matchup defensively

Looking at the stats the Dukes had more assists 15-13 and rebounds 32-30 than Richmond. As far as I saw the game plan was to play the same aggressive man defense.  

So very happy to get the W with how things were looking for most of the game. I'm still pouring over the box score on KenPom and am surprised at how well the Dukes ended up shooting on the night (great from 2P% and slightly above average 3P% as well  as stellar FT%). Throughout the game I kept going back to feeling like the opportunity was missed when they locked Richmond down to start the game but couldn't throw it in the ocean or pass well on the offensive end and only led 4-2.

Marcus was huge on the offensive glass down the stretch, Sincere was a monster in the second half, Frankie atoned for those turnovers with the key 3s and I thought M. Hughes did a great job on Golden with some help from Weathers on double teams.

Speaking of Golden, Richmond can pout all they want and act like they are on some moral high ground, yet under KD, there's been three matchups and Grant Golden has two technical fouls brought on entirely by himself that turned games. Last year the rout was on until his tech ignited a rally only for the Dukes to fall short in part because they lived at the line in OT (Dukes basically kept him off the line last night) and this year it was 28-22 and not looking good late in the first half when his actions set Duquesne up for a 4 point play and kept the Dukes within a reasonable deficit at the half. Talk "chippy" and emphasize that The Dukes are merely "physical " but the player who has shown to be a jerk in these matchups is Golden.

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

What a great team win. Especially since Eric Williams is struggling mightily with his shot; and didn’t play a factor in the comeback.

Lots of potential MVP candidates for this game, but Sin Carry’s line is ridic: 37 minutes, 21 points (4-6 from 2; 3-7 from 3; 4-5 from FT), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 6 assists and only 1 turnover.

Another (SOP), "Sincerely Outstanding Performance!"  This guy just continues to amaze me game after game.  He is so calm, and seems to have a sixth sense which allows him to slow the game down in his brain, and see things developing before others.  It's a beautiful thing!  I am really enjoying watching Sin play the game of basketball for Duquesne!
 

kcc173 wrote:

This is not to douse enthusiasm. I am totally enthusiastic and optimistic about this season playing out. My word of caution is that we are 12-5. Same as last year after 17 gsmes. Coach constantly points out that we are far from a finished product. Our 3 A10 wins came against bottom feeders (yes, Richmond, that includes you).
If what I have watched these past 4 games continues, we will have a really nice year. This team never quits and continues to improve.

The record may be the same, but there are several variables that have changed since last season.  First is that the team is almost completely different than last year.  Only EW remains from that team.  The team basically had no paint presence at all.  It was strictly a matter of whether a few guards could hit their 3's.  Team defense is much-improved.  We have a true point guard, who also happens to be outstanding, and can also score.  The team is very young and expectations are that it will be able to progress and improve as the season progresses.  Last year the team had personnel limitations that could not be ignored, or overcome, with more playing time.  Finally, the league had some very strong teams at the top that were going to be very difficult to defeat, even if the team played above expectations. 
 

CLK, yes we all know what EW can do and we don't need him to be spectacular, just more consistent.  I've seen the shooting percentages and turnovers in games when things are not going well for EW and that is a concern of mine.  I'd just much rather see consistent numbers that are lower than very high numbers one game and low numbers the next.  For me it is knowing what you can count on each game - especially when Eric is touted as our "best" player.  I do think you are right about the confidence factor playing into this and I hope Eric continues to play with focus and passion no matter if shots are falling or not.

Have to admit, didn't think they could do it, but kept my negativity to myself. Thought NJIT played a lot like Richmond and frankly I suspected a similar result last night. They're young and green and maybe not as good as other Richmond teams, but they still did a lot to give us fits at both ends of the court. Our guys fought through it, led by Sincere, when it could have gotten away from them several times. May this be a sign of more good things to come, this season and beyond.

CLK wrote:

and fear no one!  Too many posters need to buy night lights because they seem to always say that this team or that team "scares" them (not talking about you my friend).  I can understand given our history and false hopes in the past how negativity has become in grained.  But this is a new day, a new coach, a new team.  
 

I have a post about this with a classic history reference that I used on the Pirates board in 2013 when it was clear that that team was not going to fold like previous years.  Not ready to use it here yet. Too afraid of the jinx. But I am getting close!

EDIT: If we pull off a win against one of the top four: VCU, Dayton, Davidson or St. Louis. I will post it  

Last edited by Tejas_Duke (1/17/2019 3:57 pm)

One thing that was a big reason why we won last night in my opinion was the officiating. I think we got a fair shake and am hoping that trend will continue. We've had too many games where it was obvious the refs were not showing us any respect with the way the games were called. Of course Mike Hughes swatting back 4 of Goldens shots didn't hurt either.

KD, I believe after the Fordham, was concerned the team was not celebrating much to the win.
The team responded to his comments.
As for the officiating, I wonder if KD's outburst at the end of PSU game
got the attention of the refs for the conference.
They got a coach that wants to win and won't tolerate bad officiating.
 

Weathers FT% trending in the right direction. It's gone from 40% to 53%. His form looks decent to me so I would expect it to continue to rise.

phil95 wrote:

WashPaRick wrote:

One thing that was a big reason why we won last night in my opinion was the officiating. I think we got a fair shake and am hoping that trend will continue. We've had too many games where it was obvious the refs were not showing us any respect with the way the games were called. Of course Mike Hughes swatting back 4 of Goldens shots didn't hurt either.

Great observation.

Don’t know if this had anything to do with the quality of officiating last night, but one of the refs, Lee Cassell, was part of a crew that was heavily criticized the night before. Mick Cronin, the coach of Cincinnati, ripped the crew for his ejection from the game for saying a four letter word - “What?”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/2602231002